In 1976, Malkovich, along with
Joan Allen,
Gary Sinise, and
Glenne Headly, became a charter member of the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. One of his first film roles was as an extra alongside Allen,
Terry Kinney,
George Wendt, and
Laurie Metcalf in
Robert Altman's film
A Wedding (1978). In early 1982, he appeared in
A Streetcar Named Desire with Chicago's Wisdom Bridge Theatre. Malkovich then directed a Steppenwolf co-production, the 1984 revival of
Lanford Wilson's
Balm in Gilead, for which he received a second Obie Award and a
Drama Desk Award. for this role when the play was
adapted for television by
CBS in 1985. He continued to have steady work in films. In 1987, he starred in
Steven Spielberg's war drama
Empire of the Sun as Basie, a captured American sailor
. He next appeared as Tom Wingfield in the film adaptation of
Tennessee Williams'
The Glass Menagerie, directed by
Paul Newman (who appeared in the film),
Joanne Woodward, and
Karen Allen. The third and final project of 1987 was
Susan Seidelman's science fiction romantic comedy
Making Mr. Right. Malkovich gained significant critical and popular acclaim when he portrayed the sinister and sensual Valmont in the film
Dangerous Liaisons (1988), a film adaptation of the stage play
Les Liaisons Dangereuses by
Christopher Hampton, who had adapted it from the 1782
novel of the same title by
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. He later reprised this role for the music video of "
Walking on Broken Glass" by
Annie Lennox. He played Port Moresby in
The Sheltering Sky (1990), directed by
Bernardo Bertolucci and appeared in
Shadows and Fog (1991), directed by
Woody Allen. In 1990, he recited, in
Croatian, verses of the Croatian
national anthem Lijepa naša domovino (
Our Beautiful Homeland) in
Nenad Bach's song "Can We Go Higher?" Malkovich starred in the
1992 film adaptation of
John Steinbeck's novella
Of Mice and Men as Lennie alongside Gary Sinise as George. He received his second
Academy Award nomination for the
Wolfgang Petersen-directed political action thriller
In the Line of Fire (1993), playing a disillusioned former
CIA agent who plans to
assassinate the
President of the United States. He was the narrator for the film
Alive (1993) and starred in
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). Malkovich has hosted three episodes of the
NBC sketch show
Saturday Night Live. The first occasion was in January 1989 with musical guest
Anita Baker, the second in October 1993 with musical guest
Billy Joel (and special appearance by former cast member
Jan Hooks), and the third in December 2008 with musical guest
T.I. with
Swizz Beatz (and special appearances by
Justin Timberlake,
Molly Sims and
Jamie-Lynn Sigler). '' (1996) premiere Malkovich was directed for the second time (after
Dangerous Liaisons) by
Stephen Frears in
Mary Reilly (1996), a new adaptation of the
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tale, co-starring
Julia Roberts. Malkovich also appeared in
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), directed by
Luc Besson, playing the French king-to-be
Charles VII. Though he played the title role in the
Charlie Kaufman-penned
Being John Malkovich (1999), he played a slight variation of himself, as indicated by the character's middle name of "Horatio". Malkovich's directorial film debut,
The Dancer Upstairs, was released in 2002. That same year Malkovich made a
cameo appearance in
Adaptation. He played
Patricia Highsmith's antihero
Tom Ripley in ''
Ripley's Game'' (also 2002), the second film adaptation of Highsmith's 1974 novel, the first being
Wim Wenders' 1977 film
The American Friend. In 2000, Malkovich was approached to play
Green Goblin in
Spider-Man (2002), but he passed due to scheduling conflicts and
Willem Dafoe was cast in the role. In 2001, film director
Michael Cimino had also approached Malkovich to star in his never filmed 3-hour long epic of
André Malraux's ''
Man's Fate, alongside Johnny Depp, Uma Thurman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Alain Delon. Malkovich diversified his portfolio through the decade. These roles include the villainous Humma Kavula in the hit sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), the tyrannical King Galbatorix in the action fantasy film Eragon (2006), the wise royal servant Unferth in Beowulf, the English conman Alan Conway, who was known for impersonating film director Stanley Kubrick in Colour Me Kubrick'' (both 2007), Reverend Gustav Briegleb in
Clint Eastwood's mystery crime
Changeling (2008), a retired
CIA agent in the action comedy
Red, the Canadian
jockey and horse trainer
Lucien Laurin in
Secretariat (both 2010), tech CEO Bruce Brazos in
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), and reprised his role as Marvin Boggs in
Red 2 (2013).
Dark of the Moon grossed over $1 billion, becoming his highest-grossing film. In 2009, Malkovich was approached and then cast for the role of the
Marvel Comics villain
Vulture in the un-produced
Spider-Man 4. Malkovich played the title role in the film
The Great Buck Howard (2008), a role inspired by mentalist the "
Amazing Kreskin".
Colin Hanks co-starred and his father,
Tom Hanks, appeared as his on-screen father. In November 2009, Malkovich appeared in an advertisement for
Nespresso with fellow actor
George Clooney. He portrayed
Quentin Turnbull in the film adaptation of
Jonah Hex (2010). Malkovich in 2014 was the voice actor of the villainous Dave the Octopus in
Penguins of Madagascar. In 2008, Malkovich directed in French a theater production of ''
written by Zach Helm, with Cristiana Realli and Vincent Elbaz in the leading roles, at the Théâtre Libre in Paris. This was an operatic production, about the life of the Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger. In 2012, he directed a production of a newly adapted French-language version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' for the
Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris. The production had a limited engagement in July 2013 at the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. He returned to theatre, directing
Good Canary in Spanish in
Mexico, then in English at the
Rose Theater in
London in 2016. Ilan Goodman, Harry Lloyd, and Freya Mavor were in the cast. Malkovich won the Milton Schulman Award for Best Director at the 2016
Standard Theatre Awards. He appeared in
Just Call Me God in
Hamburg in March 2017. In 2018, Malkovich appeared in
a three-part adaptation of
Agatha Christie's
The A.B.C. Murders co-starring
Rupert Grint for BBC television, playing the role of fictional Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot. In 2019, Malkovich performed in London's
West End at the
Garrick Theatre, starring in
David Mamet's new play
Bitter Wheat. He also starred as the title character in the
HBO drama series
The New Pope (2020). On September 26, 2019, it was announced that Malkovich had been cast as Dr. Adrian Mallory in the
Netflix comedy series
Space Force. The show ran from May 29, 2020 to February 18, 2022 and was cancelled after two seasons. Malkovich's production of George Bernard Shaw's
Arms and the Man, set during the
Serbo-Bulgarian War, attracted protests from Bulgarian nationalists at its November 2024 premiere at the
Ivan Vazov National Theater in
Sofia. The protestors, who included members of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and right-wing political parties and movements, crowded the entrance, waving Bulgarian flags and held a banner which said "Malkovich, go home". Malkovich characterized the protests as not "a very smart idea" and rebuffed the suggestion that he had come to work in Bulgaria in order to denigrate the country's reputation. and is expected to be released in 2026 by
Netflix.
Upcoming Projects He will next star alongside
Sam Rockwell and
Steve Buscemi in
Martin McDonagh's black comedy
Wild Horse Nine, play
conductor/
composer Sergiu Celibidache in the biographical drama
The Yellow Tie, and the musical drama live-action animated ''
A Winter's Journey''. == Works and performances ==